What If
by thecanadian13
Summary: A series of branch off stories for each episode at a point where Nick and Jess could have gotten together. Some are pretty obvious of where; others are a little more intuitive. They are all unconnected so you won't be confused. T for future episodes.
1. Pilot

Doesn't it seem like Nick and Jess are going to get together every episode? Well, what if they did. For every episode, there will be short unconnected branch offs from the show, where at some point the possibility of them getting together was plausible.

* * *

><p><em>Pilot<em>

They were sitting at the bar both bummed out about their current relationships, or lack thereof, but Jess hid it better than Nick.

"I could pretend to be more like you, Jess, and live on a sparkly rainbow and drive a unicorn around and just sing all the time." Nick mocked turning a dirty glass around in his hand as he mindlessly cleaned it with a rag.

Jess stared at him for a while finally crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't get mad at me Mr. Grumpy face."

"Why shouldn't I Jess!" He said raising his hands above his head and almost dropping the glass. He caught it in time, but didn't forget his rant. "Let's face it. I am stuck in this horrible cycle with Caroline," He whined.

"You don't have to." Jess said taking the glass from him and walking around to the other side of the bar.

"You can't come back here Jess." He tried to say, but she didn't listen.

"Look Nick. You were fine before Caroline and you can be fine after."

Nick shook his head and buried his face into his hands. She never understood how much more complicated it was.

"There." Jess said giving him back the glass that she just been properly cleaning.

He turned it around some more before hanging it on the rack behind him. "It's not so simple Jess. We have a past."

"Oh, a past." Jess replied in a funny deep voice as she air quoted 'past'.

Nick shook his head some more and walked away trying to get some work done and be productive.

"Nick!" Jess screamed from the other side.

"Just leave it go Jess." He said feeling a major migraine coming on. "There is nothing you can say that will make this any better.

"I know." She said awkwardly, now standing behind him.

"Then why do you persist on bothering me?" Nick asked.

This question stumped her for a while. "I... I care about you Nick."

"You barely know me Jess."

"I would like to know you better though." Jess was all puppy dog eyed and pouting; just too much for Nick.

"Alright, alright. Gosh, don't make that face."

"What face?" Jess said sticking her tongue out and going cross eyed. Nick laughed before she did another.

"Yeah, that one right there." Nick said pointing to the one that looked like an angry old man.

They stood there letting their laughs die out slowly before awkward silence ensued.

"So are you going to that club tonight?" Jess asked tapping her fingers against the bar countertop.

"Only if you come with me. Truthfully, those Native American girls scare me a bit." Jess bit her lip and nodded.

"Is it like a date?" Jess asked shyly.

"Is going on a date considered moving on?" Nick wondered.

"I am pretty sure." Jess replied in another one of her awkward yet friendly voices.

"Alright then. Why not."

Nick called the guys over and they all walked out together; Schmidt eyeing the girls in front of him, Coach watching Schmidt suspiciously and Nick with his hand on the small of Jess's back, just light enough to tell her that he was there for her.

**Critiques? Concerns? Inquires? Thoughts? Opinions?**


	2. Kryptonite

_Kryptonite_

"I love all of them." Jess said seriously to Spencer putting her hands on her hips.

Nick stood frozen as he took in the words way too seriously. After he clued back in with reality, he noticed that they were leaving, so he followed.

* * *

><p>"Hey Jess." Nick said knocking on her door as she sat on her bed going through her stuff that she had recently reacquired.<p>

"Yeah? What's up Nick? I have to thank you guys again for helping me today." Jess said as she held up a blouse eying it rather closely.

Nick waved his hands as if it was nothing and walked in further. "I was just wondering how you felt about us." Nick said as his face turned a light shade of red.

"Oh!" Jess squealed jumping up and putting the shirt away. "You guys are awesome. Like even though Schmidt can be a douche sometimes and you can get carried away with stuff and well Winston... I don't really know him too well, but you guys rock. Especially today."

"Yeah. Us: me and the guys." Nick said under his breath.

"What?" Jess said not hearing him correctly.

"Oh, nothing." Nick replied. "I am glad you are happy with all of us.

Jess gave a half smile as she nodded her head slightly confused. "If you say so Nick."

Nick nodded his head slowly and started making clicking noises with his mouth.

"Did you need something Nick?" Jess said realizing he was just standing there staring at her.

"No, no." He said turning to leave.

"Okay."

"Actually." Nick replied walking over to her by her closet. "You didn't answer my questions correctly."

Jess looking sincerely puzzled as she attempted to make her way back to her bed to retrieve another item , but was unable to as Nick was standing in the way. "What do you mean I answered incorrectly?"

"I didn't mean the guys when I said us." Nick said looking down at his feet.

Jess's eyes became huge and she turned herself around pretending to mess with random articles of clothing hanging in her closet.

"Did you really mean what you said earlier today?" Nick pried.

"I don't know what you are referring to." Jess said in a strange voice as she slipped underneath Nick's arm and out of the closet.

"Yeah you do." Nick saw right through her lie.

Jess laughed awkwardly reaching down to pick up another hanger and shirt.

"Jess!" Nick said turning her around and holding onto her shoulders."Will you please answer my question. Just humor me here."

Jess gulped and stared motionless at Nick's face like he had done earlier.

"If I am totally off base here, just let me know." He confided.

"I..." Jess tried to produce words but came up with nothing but a one syllable pronoun.

"Just say something; anything if what you said today was just hype." Nick pleaded; tired of the games.

Jess said nothing; just watched Nick's fingers rub back and forth across her shoulder.

"You ran out of time." Nick said looking down at her, refusing to blink.

Just as more bewilderment hit Jess, so did Nick's lips as he leaned in cautiously ready to pull back at any time. Of course Jess didn't make it easy for him as she stood there with her arms limp at her side. She neither pushed him away nor dove in with passion. So as Nick held onto her and kissed her, all she could do was smile. When Nick pulled back finding it hard to kiss smiling people, all he could do was smile as well, because no further words were needed.


	3. Wedding

_Wedding_

:Not direct quotes from the episode:

* * *

><p>"Hey Jess, welcome to my new home." Nick greeted Jess as she stepped in and sat beside him in the small and crowded space.<p>

"Nick." She said lightly before being interrupted.

"Over here is the kitchen," he said pointing to the wall beside him. "Behind here is the bathroom and the living room is right over there." He finished pointing in a random direction.

"Nick, focus!" Jess said suddenly very serious. "You have to officially end it with Caroline."

Nick made a loud huff noise before he leaned his head against the wall and let Jess go on.

"You can't just be her back-up Nick. She flirted with you! She lead you on again only to be a back-up! You are not a back-up, you are the only guy." Jess said finishing her rant as she pulled out her fake teeth. "I am not Spencer's back up and you are not Caroline's."

Nick started to crack up because of the image of her trying to be serious with those ridiculous teeth on. "Come on, Jess; take the teeth out for right now at least."

Jess stuck her head out in his direction and flaunted her prop teeth.

"Take them out." Nick teased as he reached for them.

"No!" Jess shrieked as she leaned back almost falling out of the booth.

"Yes." Nick said between laughs as he lunged for them again causing his hand to grab Jess's leg for support.

They were suddenly silent. Jess pulled out the teeth and set them down in front of her as her pupils expanded.

"I'm sorry." Nick said suddenly blurting out his words.

"Uh huh." Jess whispered as her eyes darted from Nick's face to his hand that he was slowly removing. "It's fine."

Jess took his hand and moved it back as she cupped his cheek in her other.

"I don't think this is the place to do this." Nick interjected. "I mean, it is a photo booth."

"I thought this was your new home?"

Nick chuckled at Jess's wit but held his ground.

"It would seem to me that this room we are in is the bedroom, wouldn't you say so?" Jess said slyly.

Nick was out of words as Jess leaned into him against the side of the booth.

"Hey, you still in there Nick?" Schmidt's voice sounded from outside the booth.

"Yeah, yeah." Nick replied as the two sat back up and avoided eye contact.

"Okay, well Winston says that you better be out here soon or he is coming in to pull you out; with force." Schmidt responded.

"Winston said that?" Nick asked as his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Oh yeah!" Schmidt replied in a lower voice, "totally."

"Alright, whatever Schmidt. I will be out in a second."

Schmidt's footsteps could be heard walking away and Jess was the first to speak. "I'm sorry about that; I just... yeah."

Nick looked down at his lap, then at Jess. "How about a picture?"

"What?" Jess asked, shocked at his sudden change in voice.

"You know, a picture. This is a photo booth."

"Uh sure." Jess gave in.

"Kay." Nick said as he slipped in two dollars and they both centered themselves on the camera.

"One," Jess started counting along with the onscreen words in front of her. "Two, thr-"

"Three?" Nick asked after the bright lights had hit their conjoined faces.

"Yeah, that's what I was gonna say." Jess replied shyly, her cheeks a light shade of red. "Do you want to take another... picture?"

"Love to." Nick replied as he slid in more bills and pulled the curtain closed.


	4. Naked

_Naked_

*Knock knock knock knock knock*

* * *

><p>"Come in," Nick says still focused on his computer screen and not looking up.<p>

Another knock comes from the door and this time it catches Nick's attention. He mentally shakes his head before advising Jess that she doesn't have to knock once she's in the room.

"I've worked on something for you." Jess says beaming.

Nick moves to the corner of his bed before shrugging and looking up at Jess with his full and undivided attention. "Alright."

Jess clicks her lips before proceeding. "Penis." It comes out crisp and smooth; no singing involved what so ever.

Nick's turtle face inverts as a small smile creeps onto his face. "Very good."

"Thank you." Jess blushes, quite pleased with herself. Then it hits her, the reason for her coming into his room in the first place. "So did Amanda call you back?" She knows the likelihood of the answer being 'no' is seriously high, but she asks anyway.

"No, I don't see Amanda calling me back." Nick states rather matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry." Jess replies earnestly as she stands in places, eyes darting around the room and back to Nick.

"It's okay. Maybe you were right," Nick starts, which catches Jess off guard. "Maybe I'm not ready for meaningless sex with beautiful women."

Jess's throat catches as Nick gives her a funny look. "What Jess?"

Jess sings quietly to herself, not audible to Nick.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." Nick continues standing up and placing his hand on her arm that is resting against her side.

"I said that I think you are ready for one of those." Jess is staring at the ground, her cheeks the same shade as the red birds on her pajama top.

Nick gets closer trying to meet Jess's eyes with his own, but it's impossible at the angle of Jess's downward gaze.

"Hey," he finally responds pulling her chin up with his index finger. He is ready to ask what she means when she pulls him towards her and closes the distance between the two.

Flashbacks of the previous nights in his room dart around his mind as Jess backs him up onto the bed. Her baggy pajamas are like the soft blankets he secretly cuddled up to in the weeks, maybe months, following his break-up with Caroline. He doesn't stop once to ask if it is right what they are doing, but also doesn't care. At this point, it had to be normal on some levels.

* * *

><p>It's about an hour later when Schmidt's yell startles the two who are laying down underneath the sheets on Nick's bed talking about how weird and creepy their ex's could be sometimes; somehow making their past seem a whole lot funnier now than when the events actually took place.<p>

"Shh." Nick whispers as he hops up and walks over to his door to lock it.

Jess shakes her head as he gets back in bed and giggles into her neck.

"He will eventually shut up." Nick tells Jess as he lifts his head to look her in the eyes. She nods, but doesn't reply.

"So..." Nick says after a few minutes have passed and the sound of the apartment door closing has signaled Schmidt's departure. "Do you mind me asking which 'one of those' I was ready for?"

Jess blushes again like she had previously, except this time there is more pressure. What does Nick want to hear? Saying that he was ready to sleep with beautiful women might sound too arrogant and cocky. Who besides Schmidt could get away with calling themselves beautiful? On the other hand, Jess wasn't sure if this was just meaningless.

"I don't know." Jess says finally with a defeated look on her face.

Nick laughs quietly. "That was a rhetorical question Jess," His eyes have sincerity written all over them and his hand underneath the sheets is motionless on Jess's waist for the first time in a while. Jess nods again, her eyes bigger than ever.

"Of course it's the second one Jess." He picks up her glasses from the floor that had been discarded in a frenzy earlier and hands them to her. "I'm hungry. Thinking about making waffles. You up for two?"

Jess smiles. "Yeah. Sounds great. Don't burn them!" She is all serious with this last remark.

"Okay Jess," Nick says getting on some shorts and a T-shirt.

"And blueberries, put blueberries in them." Jess adds.

"I know, I know." He backs up towards the door before mocking her in that sing song voice and spreading his arms out wide. "The adventure begins!"

"So not funny Nick! That was so horrible."

He grins her way before stepping out and closing the door behind him.


	5. Cece Crashes

Cece Crashes

* * *

><p>"Hey," Jess spoke up with toothpaste in her mouth. She laughed lightly as she turned to Nick. "I'm sorry I acted to so weird today. Weird!" She shouted making funny gestures with her arms.<p>

Nick chuckled at her antics. Sometimes Jess could be so quirky and confusing, but she always had a way of making things carefree while jokingly mocking herself at the same time. "It's okay," he said barely managing to answer with his mouth full of minty toothpaste foam.

Jess shot an endearing smile his way as they held eye contact for many seconds. As both their feet pointed clearly at each other, Jess didn't seem to notice and the thought of her close relationship with Nick seemed less scary than before. She wasn't worried right now about what could happen to their friendship if they dated or that Cece might have been right all along . All she could concentrate on was Nick's eyes and the fact that a thin line of foam lined the inside of her mouth.

As the tension rose between the two, they each stepped back to the mirror. Losing interest in their own tireless brushing, Jess caught sight of Nick's eyes peering over at her to the right as she snuck a small grin in before returning her gaze to the mirror.

"Do I want to ask why you were so weird today?" Nick asked slightly rhetorically turning back to Jess with both feet facing her this time.

Jess was about to shift her eyes to the floor when she noticed a small glob of foam finding its way down Nick's chin. Jess scrunched her face up before spitting her own mess in the sink. Nick apparently hadn't noticed yet and was still waiting for a reply from Jess.

"I don't know," Jess answered earnestly. Her tone was more serious, but she couldn't hold a straight face as the glob migrated down his face. When the foam was ready to fall to the floor, Jess reached out instinctively and swiped it away with her finger before rinsing her hands in the sink.

Jess was nervous over Nick's reaction to her sudden behavior, but all he did was laugh. "I must have looked pretty stupid there, huh?"

Jess nodded sheepishly before going over to wipe her hands on a towel near the shower.

"Don't use Schmidt's towel, he'll smell that minty freshness the moment he picks his up tomorrow," Nick playfully warned. "Use my blue one."

"I'll just use mine," Jess said shyly as her eyes caught Nick's change in direction again, his white socks facing towards her yet again.

"What's wrong?" Nick could sense her change in attitude almost instantly as her eyes darted down to his feet once more. "Is there something wrong with my feet? You've been looking at them all day."

Jess didn't know how to explain this one. She groaned in frustration, silently cursing Cece under her breath.

"I don't know how to say this..." She said with pauses in between some of the words. "But your feet are always pointing at me." Jess covered her face and closed her eyes from the awkwardness of her statement, mentally hitting herself for admitting Cece's weird foot advice. She could only hope that Nick would be completely confused and shrug it off as another weird and dorky Jess thing.

When all she heard was a quiet laugh and no exhorted remarks, Jess slowly spread out her fingers as her eyes caught a glimpse of Nick's goofy facial expression in between the uncovered spaces.

"Why are you so worried about my feet facing you Jess?" In her time of panic, Nick had finished brushing his teeth and was now fully concerned with her odd dilemma.

"Cause Cece said-" Jess began trying to explain before Nick cut her off with his own words. Jess tensed up as his right hand rested reassuringly on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Jess, but I would take just as little advice from Cece as I would from Schmidt."

Jess screwed up her face at the thought of Schmidt's suggestions for her. "Yeah, but it might be true." Jess looked down at her own feet, then over to Nick's.

"Well, whether it is or isn't," Nick began as he turned Jess around to the hallway with his hand still on her shoulder leading the way. "You don't need to be worrying about it. Besides the fact that it's a little weird to look at peoples' feet all the time Jess, I'm sure it doesn't mean as much as what you're setting it up to be."

Jess and Nick exited the bathroom together before going their separate ways. Nick joined Winston on the couch who was just hanging up his cell phone and Jess walked into her room shutting the door behind her. When she was sure that everyone was out of ear-shot, she let out an exasperated whine. "It does mean something though Nick, it does."

* * *

><p><strong>I know it's been forever since I updated, but I am going to try to get every episode done before the new season :D<strong>


	6. Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

* * *

><p>"I gave her a key to our place too," Jess mentioned to us as she opened the door to our neighbors apartment. "She sometimes has a problem with her shower."<p>

Everyone stepped into the apartment except for me as she closed the door in my face. "Not you," she muttered surprising me as well as the rest.

"What are you doing, you promised me you'd be nice to him," she complained as I set down the case of beers in my right hand.

"I was nice to him. I've been very nice to Paul," I defended myself. "The whole car ride over I was nice to him. You know what he told me about? He likes Air Bud 2. He loves dogs. I know where he gets his copies made. He likes to whistle. He wanted to open the door with me, so when my hand went up, so did his," I finished a little peeved. I could tell by her face that had been developing during my defense that she was about to get whiny.

"Oh I get it, he's not cool enough for you," Jess complained as expected. "Cause no one can be cool enough for cool Nick Miller. I'm Nick Miller. I'm so cool I make the cool face. Why don't you like him?"

I stood back in total disbelief as the only words I thought I could muster were _what the hell were you just doing? _Of course, I came back with a much more mature question. "Who cares. Do you like him?"

"Of course I like him," she replied insistently.

"Fine. Does it matter what I think? Does it?" That was a pretty decent point. Why did she even care? He wasn't my date. "Cause I don't have to have sex with him."

"I do," she said a little too quickly for my liking. "I want to. I want to have sex with him big time! You heard me, big time!"

I glared at her like she was crazy. Her screams were probably load enough that the neighbors could hear, never mind Paul and the others.

I couldn't stand here much longer as she listed off countless sex positions, many I believed to have been made up right on the spot. As her pretty little face spat out 'the bear attack', I grabbed her shoulder with my right hand looking at her as serious and intense as I could with my messy hair cut and roughly shaved beard, I shouted, "shut up!"

Her eyes got wider than I ever thought they could, but her rambling didn't waver. I couldn't focus on her eyes as her flamboyant movements caught me off guard. When her arm shot out at 'give me that hat', I moved in close and kissed her softly on the lips.

I could feel her body tense up beside mine, but she was still trying to talk through my persistent interference. I couldn't figure out whether I was more annoyed or turned on which scared me so much!

Finally, I pulled back, releasing her shoulder.

"I don't care what you think!" She finished.

I was dumbstruck to say the least, but my face never showed it. Even though my blatant act of intimacy was pretty clear of what I thought, Jess still held her ground, her green eyes glaring up at me and her lips thin with aggravation.

"Then why did you ask me?" I shot back. She had no retort, no comeback. I was somewhat pleased with myself.

She looked down, still irritated, before raising her gaze back up to my sulky face.

"Why do you have to make that turtle face all the time?" She yelled back trying to sound as angry as she was before, but failing.

I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't help it. She hit me in the shoulder with her hand over and over again. "Why are you laughing Nick?"

I grabbed her wrist quickly in between hits and held it down at my side as I curled my fingers around hers.

"Why are you-" She tried yelling again, but it just wasn't the same. We both knew she had lost her intimidation long before her attack on my shoulder. "Why are you doing that?" She said in almost a whisper as she stepped in closer looking down at our hands.

"Does it matter why I'm doing that?" I asked cunningly.

"It might." Jess answered back as she stepped up in front of me, taking the beer in my left hand and placing it on the floor. Her free hand found mine and her eyes never lost focus. I thought about her hugging the frozen turkey earlier and her stupid jam shirt she had on previously, but none of those quirks caused me to change my mind on why I cared, why I hated Paul and why I hated anyone who tried to be where I was at right now with Jess.

In my time of thinking, she closed the distance between us again, releasing my hands from hers and moving them to my shoulders. My floppy hands at my side found their way to her waist as our lips brushed by each others' multiple times before making contact. It was different then before; her lips moving with mine instead of producing words. I smelled the mixture of shampoo and smoke in her hair which I guessed was similar to mine. Why did we put a turkey in the washing machine? This thought caused me to laugh as we stepped back, both grinning wildly.

"We put a turkey in the washing machine," I repeated to her as I chuckled once more.

"We did do that, didn't we," she said with an odd inflection in her voice. "We also kissed," she whispered as we leaned into each other again.

There was more movement this time. Her right foot moved in between mine as her left went to step beside my right. As it did we heard a soft clack as my bottle fell over spilling the remaining beer in it. We both broke apart with a weary look on our faces right as Winston opened the door. Our eyes unlocked from each others as we stepped back quickly.

"Why did you hit my arm?" I improvised. "You made me drop my beer Jess!"

She caught on quickly and for once she used her normal voice. "I was very mad at you for being so rude to uh..."

"Paul?" I asked saving her butt.

"Yes, I can't believe you did that still," she said winking as Winston went to retrieve some paper towels.

I kept a straight face as I walked into the apartment giving a wave to everyone. "Sorry guys, dropped my beer," I announced shrugging my shoulders and going over to the center island by Schmidt and Cece.

Jess walked in after me as Paul went over to talk to her and Winston cleaned up our mess outside.

"I've done give me that hat, only for it was like, you know, take my hat." Schmidt said from behind me as I shook my head in incredulity. "Hey Cece, can you pass me one of those lagers?"

Cece handed Schmidt one of the beers I had brought in before and started banging on the bottoms and the sides. I shrugged him off and grabbed myself a new one. Before I could take a sip, Schmidt dropped the drink in mid air and watched as it fell to the ground and shattered.

"What are you doing Schmidt?" Cece yelled jumping back. I looked at him like he was crazy, but all he did was grin back at us.

"Just curious Nick, just curious. You did say you dropped your beer, right?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>That one was fun to write. Let me know if you are confused about the ending where Schmidt dropped the beer. I'm not sure if it's clear enough to pick up the point Schmidt was making. <strong>_


End file.
